James L. Sutter
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jameslsutter.bsky.social
James L. Sutter
@jameslsutter.bsky.social
880 followers 230 following 610 posts
Co-creator of the Pathfinder & Starfinder TTRPGs. Author of the queer young adult romance novels DARKHEARTS and THE GHOST OF US, plus fantasy novels, comics, video games, and more. Musician. ME/CFS husband.
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jameslsutter.bsky.social
TONIGHT! Join us on the @storyhour.bsky.social livestream at 7pm PST as @coreyfarrenkopf.bsky.social and I read you our stories! I'll be reading "Make of Your Chest a Place for Birds," my dark fantasy story about grief, healing, and birds nesting in your thoracic cavity.

www.storyhour2020.com
STORY HOUR Livestream speculative fiction readings Hosted by Daniel Marcus and Laura Blackwell January 14th 7pm PST 2026 Corey Farrenkopf James L. Sutter http://www.storyhour2020.com
January 14, 2026 at 7:11 PM
jameslsutter.bsky.social
Tomorrow (1/14) at 7pm PST, come listen to me read my story "Make of Your Chest a Place for Birds" live over Zoom alongside @coreyfarrenkopf.bsky.social as part of Story Hour, hosted by @pronouncedlahra.bsky.social and Daniel Marcus!

www.storyhour2020.com
Show poster with pictures of James L. Sutter and Corey Farrenkopf that says: STORY HOUR Livestream Speculative Fiction Readings hosted by Daniel Marcus and Laura Blackwell January 14th 7pm PST 2026 http://www.storyhour2020.com
January 13, 2026 at 4:49 PM
jameslsutter.bsky.social
In 2023, I posted my end-of-year wordcount to show that even full-time authors can fall off a cliff.

This year I'm posting it to show you can climb back up.

Life happens. Priorities change. Don't shame yourself for not writing as much as you wanted—celebrate that you made the effort at all.
Graph showing James's words written in each year, hovering around 175,000 for 2018-2022, dropping to 36,000 in 2023, then climbing back to 116,000 in 2025.
December 30, 2025 at 7:46 PM
jameslsutter.bsky.social
Since this is doing numbers... if you like queer teen rom-coms, please check out my creator-owned novels!

jameslsutter.com/novels.html
The cover of DARKHEARTS, showing two teen boys about to kiss with the tagline "Could you love the boy who stole your chance at fame?"
December 8, 2025 at 12:18 AM
jameslsutter.bsky.social
The amazing @colleenaf.bsky.social made a banned books RPG for her local library and got a bunch of YA authors to record cutscenes as NPCs. Here's me as the pirate captain who runs the local costume shop. (And yes, I had all of these in my closet already.)
December 5, 2025 at 9:13 PM
jameslsutter.bsky.social
Being in a band in your forties is just posting this to the group chat forever.
The Bernie "once again asking" meme, but it says "I am once again asking for you to fill out the practice poll"
November 26, 2025 at 1:32 AM
jameslsutter.bsky.social
You can now *listen* to my new story, "Make of Your Chest a Place for Birds," on the latest episode of the @nightmare-magazine.com podcast! It's dark fantasy about love and grief and birds nesting in your thoracic cavity.
Cover image for the nightmare magazine podcast, showing a stone tomb door.
November 18, 2025 at 6:53 PM
jameslsutter.bsky.social
SEATTLE! Come say hi TODAY at the grand opening of the Beguiled Books all-romance bookstore in Pioneer Square! I'll be there from 4:00-4:45, signing books, answering questions, and just generally hanging out!

www.beguiledbooks.com/opening
Beguiled Books logo and a photo of James with the words: Beguiled Books Seattle's Original Romance Bookstore Sunday 11/16, 4:00-4:45pm James L. Sutter Author of Darkhearts and The Ghost of Us
November 16, 2025 at 6:17 PM
jameslsutter.bsky.social
I did a scarily personal interview about how grief and chronic illness influenced my new dark fantasy/body horror story, "Make of Your Chest a Place for Birds," over at @nightmare-magazine.com:

Interview: www.nightmare-magazine.com/nonfiction/a...

Story: www.nightmare-magazine.com/fiction/make...
Excerpt: "I took the old advice and wrote about what scared me, pairing the fear of living without my favorite person with that image of the bird. Yet even as I let myself wallow in the protagonist’s pain, I knew the story had to look at the whole picture—not just the loss, but what comes after. Because however hard things get, I believe we owe it to those we love—and those we lose—to not give in to despair. My wife has always been adamant that the ME/CFS that’s devoured so much of her life isn’t allowed to claim mine as well. So the story really emerged from that tension, between the weight of grief and the responsibility to keep finding joy."
November 15, 2025 at 10:02 PM
jameslsutter.bsky.social
SEATTLE! Come hang out with me this Sunday at 4:00pm as part of Beguiled Books' grand opening of their new all-romance brick and mortar bookstore in Pioneer Square! www.beguiledbooks.com/opening
Beguiled Books logo and Sunday 11/16: 4-4:45pm, James Sutter, author of Darkhearts and The Ghost of Us.
November 12, 2025 at 4:56 PM
jameslsutter.bsky.social
My story "Make of Your Chest a Place for Birds" just went live on @nightmare-magazine.com—it's about grief, love, and birds nesting in your thoracic cavity, and I think it's one of the best things I've ever written.

You can read it for free right now: www.nightmare-magazine.com/fiction/make...
The cover of Nightmare issue 158, showing a living scarecrow holding a crow.
November 6, 2025 at 12:28 AM
jameslsutter.bsky.social
There's still time for a supernatural sapphic YA romance before Halloween! 👻

jameslsutter.com/novels-ghost...
A skeleton bunny with a copy of THE GHOST OF US, whose cover shows two teen girls kissing in front of a full moon.
October 25, 2025 at 10:38 PM
jameslsutter.bsky.social
Look at this unbelievable DARKHEARTS fan art by DeraxX! 🤯

www.instagram.com/deraxx_x/?hl...
The main characters from DARKHEARTS: David hugging Chance from behind as Chance sings into a microphone, surrounded by hearts.
October 21, 2025 at 6:49 PM
jameslsutter.bsky.social
A new adventure begins...
James's setup for running a D&D campaign, with a laptop, GM screen, dice, hand-drawn maps, initiative tracker, pawns, D&D books, etc.
September 27, 2025 at 11:04 PM
jameslsutter.bsky.social
It's still #SapphicSeptember for another week! Maybe you need a supernatural fake-dating YA romance starring a teenage ghost hunter who finds an actual ghost? If so, THE GHOST OF US has you covered!

jameslsutter.com/novels-ghost...
The cover of THE GHOST OF US, showing two teen girls kissing in front of a full moon.
September 25, 2025 at 6:33 PM
jameslsutter.bsky.social
Swung by Beguiled Books—Seattle's amazing mobile romance bookstore—to sign some stock for Bookstore Romance Day! www.beguiledbooks.com
James with Mrs. Beguiled, the owner of Beguiled Books, who's holding James's books DARKHEARTS and THE GHOST OF US.
August 10, 2025 at 5:06 PM
jameslsutter.bsky.social
It's Bookstore Romance Day! Buy any of my books from your favorite store and drop me a DM, and I'll mail you a signed and personalized bookplate sticker!
jameslsutter.com/novels.html
The covers of The Ghost of Us, featuring two teen girls kissing, and Darkhearts, showing two boys about to kiss. Also a signed bookplate sticker.
August 9, 2025 at 9:44 PM
jameslsutter.bsky.social
Toffee-covered licorice that looks like grubs. I don't speak Danish, but I'm pretty sure that tagline means "God has turned his gaze from us..."
A bag of Haribo Labre Larver candy, with the tagline "luk op for noget godt..."
July 21, 2025 at 4:14 PM
jameslsutter.bsky.social
Need some queer young adult rom-coms for your summer reading? jameslsutter.com/novels.html
CHOOSE YOUR ROMANCE: Supernatural Sapphic Seduction (over the cover of THE GHOST OF US) or Band Bro Enemies to Lovers (over the cover of DARKHEARTS). Then, below it: "(Who am I kidding? You should definitely buy them both.)"
July 16, 2025 at 8:18 PM
jameslsutter.bsky.social
Screenshot of a conversation: DAVID: There's a church in Redwood City called Messiah Lutheran. Today I drove by and saw a sign "Messiah Parking Only." I found that very, very funny. JAMES: Lol. Thou shalt not take the Lord's space in vain.
July 1, 2025 at 3:36 PM
jameslsutter.bsky.social
"Oh snap!"
James holding a baby that's making an "oh snap!" face.
June 18, 2025 at 6:18 PM
jameslsutter.bsky.social
I never would have thought that hanging out with a friend's baby would be a thing that calmed me down when the world's on fire, but here we are.
James holding a laughing baby.
June 18, 2025 at 6:17 PM
jameslsutter.bsky.social
The child demands chips.
James holding a baby who's holding a bag of tortilla chips.
June 16, 2025 at 2:48 PM
jameslsutter.bsky.social
SEATTLE! Come see me at two amazing events tomorrow, Saturday June 14! I'll be at the Emerald City Romance Author & Reader Event @ South Seattle Community College until 4pm, then signing at the Queer Book Fair at @charliesqueerbooks.bsky.social in Fremont from 5pm-6pm!

Swing by and say hello!
The same information as in the main text, plus a picture of James and the covers of the queer YA romance books THE GHOST OF US and DARKHEARTS.
June 13, 2025 at 7:55 PM
jameslsutter.bsky.social
It's wild out there, but also—it's Pride Month! Maybe you need to decompress with a queer YA rom-com? Perhaps a gay enemies-to-lovers rock star romance or a sapphic supernatural fake dating scheme? jameslsutter.com/novels.html
The words "Need a queer YA rom-com for Pride Month?" over a pride flag and images of two books by James L. Sutter: Darkhearts, showing two boys about to kiss, and The Ghost of Us, showing two girls kissing.
June 10, 2025 at 6:02 PM